Page 34 of Julian

Annie’s brows rose as her eyes widened. “Are you falling for my brother?”

Kiara stared at Annie. “No. That would be foolish.”

She’d come to that conclusion early on. Like when she’d seen Julian the day after they’d been intimate, and he’d clearly not remembered what had happened. And on top of that, he hadn’t seemed remotely interested in her romantically when he was sober. It was only after he’d had several drinks that he’d viewed her as something more.

Kiara had seen enough pictures of him with women online to know that he had a ‘type’, and she was not it. She didn’t think shewas unattractive, but she definitely wasn’t blonde, and she had curves even when she wasn’t pregnant.

“Why would that be foolish?” Annie asked. “All things considered, he’s not a horrible man. I know he has some issues, but he’s working on them.”

“I just don’t think it would be a good idea.”

“You know, when Cole first started showing an interest in me, I was sure he was just bored or something because I wasn’t anything like the women he usually dated,” Annie said, relaxing back in her chair, her cup of coffee in her hands. “I’m glad I got past that because he’s been nothing but wonderful to me. So don’t assume, just because of who Julian might have dated before, that things can’t develop between you.”

“Well, Julian hasn’t expressed any interest in me, so it’s a good thing I’m not falling for him.” Any more than she already had… “It would just complicate things.”

“You’re pregnant with his baby,” Annie pointed out, as if Kiara had forgotten. “So you must have interested him at some point.”

“All that proves is that I interested blackout drunk Julian. Not sober Julian. And I don’t think any of us want Julian to be drunk anymore.”

Annie sighed. “No, we don’t.”

“So just accept—like Julian and I have—that this marriage is for now, not forever.”

Angie’s expression saddened, which wasn’t what Kiara wanted. She was supposed to be excited and happy about her wedding.

“My focus is on the baby,” Kiara said. “And how excited I am to meet him or her.”

“It will be nice to have a baby around again,” Annie said. “I remember when Benji was born and how much I loved helping Elizabeth with him.”

“I’ve never taken care of a baby, so I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

“No worries there,” Annie assured her. “I have a feeling there will be at least three of us ready to help you whenever you need it.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Kiara finished the last bit of her croissant, then said, “I’m going to head back up to my room for a bit to read my letter.”

“Are you going walking later?” Angie asked.

“Probably. It looks nice out.”

“I want to go with you,” she said. “So come get me before you go.”

“Okay. I will.”

Leaving the twins in the breakfast room, Kiara clutched her letter tightly as she climbed the stairs. Her stomach was once again a bit nauseous, but she didn’t know if it was because of the baby or nerves over the letter from Julian.

Once in the privacy of her room, she sat in her favorite chair and pulled the fluffy blanket she kept there over her lap.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling heavily, she slid a finger under the flap and carefully broke the seal.

Once again, the pages were filled with his bold scrawl in black ink. Hunching over the letter, she began to read.

Dear Kiara,

I hope that you and the baby are doing well and that the nausea has eased up. I’m sorry I can’t ask informed questionsabout your pregnancy as I know nothing and currently don’t have the ability to search for information on the internet.

You asked about my thoughts on finding out the gender of the baby. I think it would kind of be nice to know. It would give us a connection to him or her.

Kiara smiled at his words. She was going for the scan in two days, and she’d planned to ask for the gender to be put in a sealed envelope until she heard from him. But now that she had, she could go ahead and find out and let him know when she replied to his letter.